I was distressed on a recent trip home to discover that Teavana has discontinued my beloved Celestial Temple Peaks. When asked what they had that was similar, they produced this Golden Monkey, which is twice as expensive and not quite as good. But the dry leaf smelled about the same as the Celestial Temple Peaks, so I bought some.

The leaf for this has less buds in it than I would like. The tea itself has the honey taste that I like in my black tea, but also has a malty note of which I’m not particularly fond. It also has a tendency to get a bit astringent.

Over all, I prefer it to Verdant’s Zhu Rong Yunnan Black, which was big on the malty taste profile, but not as well as Temple Peaks. I anticipate that I will now have to be on a quest for a new black tea.

(Sorry not to elaborate on the taste profile more. I’ve drunk this maybe half a dozen times now, so I figured it was time for a note, but I believe I’m coming down with something so it doesn’t taste quite right today.)